Roundabout journey because of a name

Owen Dale treks from U.K. to visit Michigan village of Owendale.

Owen Dale treks from U.K. to visit Michigan village of Owendale.

April 03, 2007

OWENDALE, Mich. (AP) -- Owen Dale, of Doncaster, England, got a warm, rural Michigan welcome when he visited the farming village of 296 that shares his name. He loved the school and even the chips, er, french fries. The 41-year-old father of three works for Pilkington Glass in Doncaster, about 120 miles north of London. "The people at work are tickled by it all," Owen told the Yorkshire Post of nearby Leeds, England, before the trip. "They think I'm mad." The idea came to Dale by way of a British television show. "I did a Google search in 2000, after being inspired by the comedian Dave Gorman, who tracked down other people also called Dave Gorman," Dale told The Star of Sheffield, England. "I was amazed," he told the Huron Daily Tribune of Bad Axe, Mich., about 15 miles west of Owendale. "I couldn't believe it. I joked for months I was going to visit, and then I became more serious." The trip came to fruition this year. A few weeks before he leaving England, he found the Owendale-Gagetown Area Schools Web site and located the phone number. He called on Presidents Day and talked to Liz Roemer, a bookkeeper at the school. "I thought it was very unusual," Roemer said. "I thought, 'This is really cool that someone from England would want to come all the way to Owendale.'" Dale took a roundabout course, flying from Britain to Charlotte, N.C., then on to Orlando, Fla., where he said he was unable to book a flight. "I was forced to proceed with a long road trip," he said. As he neared the village located 95 miles north of Detroit on March 24, Dale said he became anxious. "You know when you were a kid and it was Christmas morning and all those presents were in front of you -- how did it make you feel?" he said. "You're excited about what's inside that wrapper and what you'll find." He spent five hours in Owendale March 24, meeting village President Walter Howard and other notables, visiting the school and enjoying the town. Dale said the "chips," or french fries, that he had at lunch at Owendale's Blue Moon Saloon "are the best I have tasted while in the USA."